Forgotten Images: Postcards of
Pre-Pakistan, 1890-1947
By F.S. Aijazuddin, OBE
Liberty Publishing 
ISBN: 978-969-712-156-0
232pp. 

The coffee table book Forgotten Images: Postcards of Pre-Pakistan, 1890-1947, by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, OBE, is a feast for the eyes, providing readers with images of landmarks from different cities of Pakistan clicked before the partition of the Subcontinent, hence from over 77 years ago.

Each city and province from where the postcards have been selected has been honoured with a chapter, making this treatise a neat and tidy read, or maybe I should say a tidy ‘experience’.

Visiting places these days usually results in selfies taken against famous and important landmarks, which then are promptly WhatsApped to friends or shared on social media such as Facebook or Instagram, with a bit of information about the place for the interest of friends. Some more tech savvy persons may also make vlogs about them.

But during the late 19th century, all this was done through postcards which, after a few scribbled lines in the place provided on their flip side, could either be directly dropped into the letterbox, with the required denomination stamp or stamps pasted on them of course, or wrapped amid the folds of a letter in an envelope.

Thus the receiver of these postcards also got to enjoy topographical views, buildings of interest, topical events, and the culture of the places visited by the sender. Postcards, which have become a rare entity now, were available everywhere then. Often it used to be a request from friends or relatives of the one travelling foreign lands not to forget to drop a postcard from wherever they could, as collecting postcards was and is a hobby of many.

A coffee table book about pre-Partition postcards from the areas now part of Pakistan evokes nostalgia as well as preserves a part of social history worth preserving

The postcards included in the book belong to five collections of private collectors. They include the late Robert Scoales in the UK, Omar Khan and Dr Ken Robbins in the USA, Ratnesh and Sangeeta Mathur in India and their friend, the author F.S. Aijazuddin in Pakistan. All the postcards are from areas within Pakistan.

Beginning with postcards from Karachi, which have pictures and photographs of the sea, boats, ships, islands, the lighthouse, the port, scenes of Bunder Road, other roads, Clifton, majestic stone buildings like that of the Cantonment Railway Station, the hospitals, Empress Market, Frere Hall, the Hindu Gymkhana, the Karachi Gymkhana, the Merewether Clock Tower, the huge airship shed and so much more, the scope is broadened with postcards from Sindh in another chapter. Thus important landmarks from Jacobabad, Khairpur, Mohenjodaro and Sukkur have also been covered.

This is followed by Lahore, expanding into the bigger picture of Punjab. After that there comes Peshawar, which then opens the view to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Next is Quetta, followed by Balochistan. There is also a chapter about postcards from Chitral. The last chapter is dedicated to ‘social’ postcards of people and cultures.

Each card reproduced is accompanied by a caption where its original title is printed in capital letters, with any inscription on its front or reverse side mentioned in italics. The book, with a bibliography and index, also includes a list of photographers and the name of original publishers, at the end. References are also made to the different techniques used in the manufacture of the postcards.

F.S. Aijazuddin, who has had a distinguished professional career as a chartered accountant, is one of Pakistan’s leading art-historians, whose earlier books, 22 no less, have focused on paintings, watercolours, lithographs and photographs. Forgotten Images: Postcards of Pre-Pakistan, 1890-1947 is another gem in his dazzling authorship.

The reviewer is a business consultant

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 29th, 2024